Confession of a sun god
by D'raekmus
Summary: Mephiles has been exiled from his post.  Lost and confused, he wanders until he meets Sailor Pluto.  He tells the fellow guardian of time his story, on how he became exiled.  oneshot. Might expand if readers are interested.  Mainly fluff.  STH06 spoilers.


A/N: Hello, all. This is a oneshot I made concerning Mephiles' actions surrounding the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, the biggest time paradox of the series. What follows is my own speculation on how Mephiles took events, such as his "creation", and sealing, and even his attempts at merging with Iblis.

What I'm assuming here is that each reality has a being who embodies time, acting like a protector of sorts, such as Dialga of the Pokemon world, or Sailor Pluto in the Sailor Moon series. Basically, they're transcendent beings with connections to the Tesseract, a theorized fourth dimension that is beyond time and space, and is therefore irrelevant. The Tesseract itself is like an advanced cube: Time and space (the third dimension) exist within it, much like a square does in a cube. However, multiple instances of time can exist in a tesseract, meaning that the dimension itself is time-neutral.

Anyway, My speculation was that Solaris was the guardian of Sonic's world's time stream, but suffered by the hand of the Duke of Soleanna.

Keep in mind this is a oneshot, but, if there's anyone interested in seeing this concept develop further, you might be able to sway me to expand upon the story.

I do not own Sailor Moon nor Sonic the Hedgehog, nor anything affiliated with them.

* * *

Sailor Pluto, guardian of the gates of Time, stood at her post, as usual. Her dark, emerald green hair hung down to her waist, as she wore a dark sailor fuku. In her right hand, the Garnet Rod stood poised, the key-shaped staff ready to challenge any intruder. Her garnet eyes looked distant, as she watched the passage of time in her universe.

She dared not to admit it to anyone, but she was secretly jealous of the other Sailor Soldiers. They were able to interact in their world and live their lives together. She, on the other hand, was forced to stand at this godforsaken gate for all eternity, alone.

It was a tough job, yes, but someone had to do it. But still, it would have been nice to at least have someone to talk to, discuss ideas, and at least make the time feel a little less monotonous.

As Pluto watched the Roman Empire collapse for the umpteenth time, she stopped. Turning slowly from the gates, she felt a strange presence. It was lost, confused, out of place. Yet... something about it spoke of dangerous power.

She peered through the thick fog that surrounded the gate, but could see nothing. Suddenly, there it was, a strange shadow that pooled up from the ground, forming a small, spiked figure.

Sailor Pluto continued to watch this strange person, as it moved through the fog. She tightened her grip on her staff. Nothing can simply walk into this world, unless they managed to breach the time continuum, at which she would have no choice but to exterminate them.

The guardian of time crouched slightly, as the figure became clearer. She saw that it looked like an anthropomorphic hedgehog, with a black body, a white tuft of fur on it's belly, and its spiked "hair" was streaked with a dusty blue. But the eyes were cold, reptilian, yet there was something... knowledgeable about those eyes. No mouth was visible, almost like it was formed from a person's shadow.

When the creature was a few feet from the door, it suddenly spoke, in a strangely dark, yet surprisingly gentle voice, "Pluto, guardian of Earth's time, I mean you no harm, for like you, I am a protector of time, exiled by my own actions and foolish bid for power."

Sailor Pluto moved herself in front of the time gate. "Tell me why you are here. Why are you not guarding your own time, Solaris?" Even though time guardians were not on a first name basis with each other, certain circumstances brought a few together at times. Sailor Pluto knew full well what Solaris was, a sun god of his reality, as well as the guardian of his world's time.

"Do not call me by that name anymore. I have disgraced all guardians. I will only be known as Mephiles, Mephiles the Dark," the creature replied, bowing his head in shame.

Pluto cocked her head ever so slightly. "What has happened to you, Sola- I mean, Mephiles?"

The dark demon of time looked at the guardian. "It's a long tale, but I will try my best to explain it fully," he said.

* * *

As you know, I was once the time guardian known as Solaris. In my world, a kingdom called Soleanna worshiped me as their sun god, due to their marking of time revolving around the position of the sun. I appeared as a small flame, eternally burning, while I observed the flow of time from my pedestal. I watched great kings and queens rise and fall like the sun. While I wasn't happy, I was at least satisfied that I was doing my job of protecting the flow of time well enough.

But then, _he_ took the throne. The Duke of Soleanna, a brilliant man, began to experiment with me, trying to encourage me to use my powers to change and alter history. However, I knew full well the dangers of such tampering, and how it would affect the flow of time, so I naturally refused, remaining silent despite his efforts.

However, I underestimated the persistence of human nature, and he rigged a powerful machine to siphon my powers to tear open a hole in time. It was too much for me, and I split into two beings: Iblis, my raw power and eternal flames; and Mephiles, my conscious mind.

When I realized just what that man did to me, I couldn't hold myself back, I attacked him, and nearly destroyed him. But then I saw through my connection to the tesseract, the time-neutral realm, that he would die anyway, so I fled from the area, intent on finding my lost half.

But, it wasn't to be, as a black Hedgehog named Shadow imprisoned me within the Scepter of Darkness for the next ten years.

However, I was still a guardian of time, and foresaw my eventual release, so I plotted my next move. Using my remnant powers, I would take over Shadow's shadow and use my powers over time travel to place him within the future. Once he saw the consequences of the human's experiment, I was sure he would wish to help me become whole once again.

In case this first plan failed, I had a second one ready to deploy: If I could convince a person from the future to go back to the past and cause the vessel holding Iblis to shed a tear, he would be free and we could merge together once again.

During my imprisonment, I also learned more about Iblis' carrier: the young princess of Soleanna, Elise. I knew she was a strong girl, very difficult to get a reaction out of her. But, through my temporal eye, I saw that she would fall for a blue hedgehog. If she became too attached to this Sonic character, then I could, through his termination, release Iblis through her sorrow, and finally become whole once again, and resume my duties as the guardian of time.

Don't get me wrong, Pluto, I am not a bad person. In fact, I planned on reviving Sonic shortly afterwards through my powers. I had everything perfectly planned out, as I awaited my release.

When it arrived, everything went smoothly. Shadow was transported to the future, the hedgehog Silver was taken to the past to destroy Sonic, the Iblis Trigger, and I patiently awaited the release.

However, I realized that I would need a miraculous power in order to merge Iblis and myself back into Solaris. It is easier to destroy than it is to create. So, in the greatest of secrecy, I began to enact another plan. I silently willed the hedgehogs to gather the seven Chaos emeralds. Once they gathered them, I would be able to use my time manipulation powers to forcibly pull them to me, drawn by my own power.

But, things do not always go according to plan. Shadow misinterpreted my actions, and still believed that I was the cause of all this. Even when I showed that the humans he was trying to protect would turn and use him as a scapegoat and blame him for Iblis' release, he still chose to fight against me.

And so I fled from him, trying to convince his companion to stop him. However, when that failed, I took refuge in the desert back in his present, where we fought a second time. Even with my powers, I still fell to him. But, when he tried to seal me back within the scepter, I used the hedgehog's own powers to shatter it, as my powers fused with his own.

My backup plan of having Silver destroy Sonic failed as well. His sudden change of heart, as well as his obsession with eliminating the Iblis in the future broke anything I said to him. So, he returned to his time, and used the Chaos Emeralds to instead imprison Iblis once again, saving his time.

I do not blame him for his actions, however. Given his lack of knowledge, it should come without surprise that he acted the way he did. Silver wanted to remove the Iblis from his future, not restore Solaris.

Shadow, too, cannot be blamed for what he did. All he wanted to do was seal me back within the scepter, not realizing my importance, but recognizing my threat.

So, in the end, I was forced to do the deed. I directly intervened and killed Sonic myself. With Iblis released, I used the Chaos Emerald I possessed to summon the other six. Using the flame altar in Soleanna, I channeled the power of the Emeralds into my own body, drawing Iblis within as well.

That was when everything went wrong. Instead of becoming whole, I felt myself losing control. The emeralds overwhelmed my body, and I lost control of my powers.

Unable to reconnect with my abilities, Iblis' destructive mind took over. The Iblis-Solaris proceeded to do the only action consuming its mind: destroy. With Solaris' power over the entire time stream, this new Iblis began to cause the entire time-space of my world to collapse.

That was when my enemies, all the denizens of the past, present, and future gathered the Seven Chaos, in an attempt to revive Sonic, so the three hedgehogs could attack me at once. For the first time, I hoped that they would be able to stop me.

But, as you know, I am a being that exists in all time periods, making it impossible to destroy me. However, through a sheer miracle, the three hedgehogs managed to stop me before I completely destroyed time.

They stopped me, but, now unable to control my powers period, the degradation of my world's time accelerated. In a last-ditch attempt, I used the last of the power under my control to pull Sonic and the princess back to the time before I was split, back when I was still the true Solaris.

My hope was that, if they destroyed my presence then, I would be able to stop the entire destruction through them. However, as soon as the I was blown out, I realized that I left one loose end: With my destruction, the greatest time paradox would happen, resulting in possibly the destruction of time regardless.

So, I did the only thing I could. As I lost my hold on the rapidly decaying time stream, I expelled Iblis from myself, and by using the beast's power over time, I changed him into a new stream of time. Iblis itself would maintain the flow of time. And so, as my powers waned, I pulled everyone out and placed them within this new time, free from the destruction of the previous stream.

However, I was now only Mephiles. I could travel through time, yes, but I could no longer protect nor influence it. I gave that up when I destroyed Iblis. So, I had no choice, I fled from my assigned world.

Wherever I went, looking for help, the other guardians would reject me. Dialga said that I got exactly what I deserved. Chronos told me to look somewhere else for pity. Even the Asterite said that I befouled the name of the time Guardians.

And so, I continued, lost, confused, without a purpose.

* * *

Pluto finished a small cup of tea from a porcelain mug painted with clocks and the symbol of Pluto. "So, you think that, because of what the other guardians said, that I might say the same?" she asked.

Mephiles nodded, as he drank from another cup she had. Sailor Pluto watched with mild fascination. Even though he didn't have a mouth, he still managed to drink it.

Finally, the exiled guardian placed his tea cup down on the green plaid tablecloth that his host had procured out of seemingly nowhere. "Yes, I do believe so. Nobody understands my motives, even when I tried to explain my desperation to become whole. Imagine if half of your body was just missing." His reptilian eyes flashed briefly. "That is what I had to endure, what I have to endure now," the demon growled.

Sailor Pluto remained silent throughout his rant. "I will admit that your actions are unforgivable. Why did you not see yourself losing control?"

Mephiles shrugged. "That is the nature of chaos, Plu. Nobody, not even we time guardians, can predict its nature. That's why its called chaos." His eyes flashed slightly with a form of humor. "Even as young a guardian as yourself should know that."

Pluto gritted her teeth slightly. She hated being reminded that she was the youngest of all the known time guardians. "Right. Chaos is beyond time and space. I remember now. 'In the beginning, before time, before space, there was a vortex of destruction. Chaos.'" she quoted, remembering the passage from her early training.

Mephiles nodded, and continued, "'Chaos. The force that destroys and tears down. Yet, also the force that spurs everyone and everything to improve, to continue moving in the present. Including the time guardians.'" He looked deeply into Pluto's eyes. "Chaos itself pushes time, and distorts space. It is a force we can never truly understand. That is why we, the time guardians, are meant to watch over the flow of time: to prevent chaos from going awry and destroying time."

The demon/hedgehog sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but Pluto was his last chance. If she didn't believe that he could be redeemed, then nobody would. There was nobody else to turn to.

Surprising Mephiles, Pluto spoke up. "Your acts are crimes against being a guardian. You chose to make your presence known, let people experiment upon you, and caused the destruction of the time you were supposed to be guarding." Her voice was harsh and accusing. Mephiles looked down at the ground, all hope gone.

In a softer voice, the female guardian continued. "However, despite your split, you chose to reform yourself, and continue your duties. Even though you were destroyed, you chose to instead not pursue revenge, but healing."

She looked down at the hedgehog. "And most importantly, when you realized the consequences, you chose to instead sacrifice much of your power to amend for you choices. That itself is commendable."

As Mephiles looked back up, Pluto resumed her harsh voice. "But we cannot forget your punishment for such a course. You directly interfered with the natural flow of time. So, as punishment for your rash action, you will be demoted to an apprentice guardian of the Gates of Time." She looked defiantly towards the demon. "In other words, you will become my assistant in guarding my time's gate."

Both guardians knew that every time guardian could pass their own judgment and punishment on one another, if they were found acting in violation. The others believed that it was punishment enough for Mephiles to continue living, and left things at that.

Mephiles bowed low. "As you wish, my teacher." was all he said as the hedgehog turned towards the door opposite Sailor Pluto. He looked back for one moment, and saw the guardian watching him carefully, seemingly intent.

Yet, he couldn't help but see that flash of joy in her eyes, probably because of having a companion.

But, eh, where else did he have to go? Every other guardian told him to get lost.

_Perhaps this won't be so bad after all..._ the demon thought, as he straightened himself, looking away from Pluto. _She is one of the nicer guardians, and not that bad looking._

Mephiles stopped his train of thought. _Rule number 1,142 of being a guardian: "No relationships between guardians. No exceptions."_ Half of his mind replied, _Yeah, but you're her assistant. There's a whole different meaning._

The demon sighed, _Shut up, Iblis._ Before he realized that the fire demon was no longer a part of him.

He crossed his arms across his chest. _There can't be relationships between guardians. That creates an emotional attachment that could be easily exploited against us. Besides, it's not like I am att-_

His thoughts were interrupted by a noise. When he turned, posed to strike, he saw a rather awe-inspiring sight.

Sailor Pluto sat at the same table they had their tea. Instead of a teapot and cups, there was instead a checkerboard square adorned with four rows of strange figures, two black and two white on opposite sides of the board.

Pluto saw Mephiles' curiosity, slightly amused at the demon's confusion. "Would you like to play a game of chess?" she asked.

Mephiles tilted his head, puzzled. "What's chess?" the demon asked.


End file.
